Mountain Bikers and E-bikers Can Get Along ... Yes/No/Maybe So!(?)
Fully Rigid, 1/19/24
It’s 2024, a new year, which means we can start anew, and so I’m going to offer up some new ideas for mountain bikers and e-bikers to get along. Let’s say some of this came about after talking with a long-time mountain biker who is now an e-biker, a friend mine despite/through it all.
If you are an e-biker, there’s no need to apologize. Why do so many of you, on the trail and at the pub, talk down about being an e-biker? Celebrate you. You do you. We/I don’t look down upon you. You’re an e-biker. So what?! We mountain bikers will support your e-biker badself. We/I might still disagree with your access agenda, though(!).
Mountain bikers riding with e-bikers can be difficult, as the motor-boost likely means timing will be a bit off. Solution: at the top of the climb, and since you have “assistance” to get there and it’s easier for you, e-bikers can carry the beer and charcuterie and set up a nice spread at the top of the mountain. Ammiright?
In different places that I’ve lived, there have been workshops/trail programs/efforts for mountain bikers and horseback riders to interact, even having mountain bikers ride alongside the horses so they might become familiar with the bikes/bikers. Let’s do that with e-bikers and mountain bikers, but in the following way: if you were a mountain biker and are now an e-biker, you should organize such events with new-to-trail riding e-bikers and teach them the proper trail etiquette. You are in a very powerful position to educate. Harness that power!
One more thing: No honest e-biker who was a mountain biker can say that the ride experience is the same as mountain biking. If it is/was, why did you convert to the e-bike, if you were a mountain biker? They are 2 different bikes and thus, 2 different rides/riders. As someone who has spent a few decades writing grants and working with non-profits, one thing that is widely known but little talked about publicly is that some orgs overreach on their actual capacity. The question is: can mountain biking organizations actually and effectively represent both mountain biking/bikers and e-biking/bikers at the same time? Is it time to create/differentiate e-biker orgs from mountain biker ones?
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I like this. And it's needed. The club I joined, the Outdoor Club of South Jersey, has a few eMTB riders who lead rides and then complain about others being "slow." If you need an e-bike for old knees, you don't get to judge human speed anymore. You are a cyborg.